1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a conveying device mounted in a device such as a quality inspection device and a combination weighing device, which respectively inspects and weighs articles dropped into a container.
2. Background Information
Conventionally, a device such as a combination weighing device equipped with a conveying device has been used to drop articles into a plurality of containers and convey these containers.
For example, Japanese Patent Application Publication No. H09-229755 (published on Sep. 5, 1997) discloses an automatic combination weighing device that discharges articles from desired containers while cyclically moving a plurality of containers in a Z direction. Here, while circulating the plurality of containers, the device inverts containers that are moved to a predetermined discharge position in order to discharge the articles from the containers. See also Japanese Patent Application Publication No. H08-29242 (published on Feb. 2, 1996) and Japanese Patent Application Publication. 2003-270031 (published on Sep. 25, 2003).
However, the above conventional devices have the following problem.
Specifically, with the automatic combination weighing devices disclosed in the above documents, it is not possible to change the order of the containers in which articles have been dropped. Accordingly, it is necessary to wait until containers selected by combination weighing are moved to a predetermined discharge position. Consequently, it is difficult to speed up the process in which articles are discharged from all the selected containers.
In view of the above, it will be apparent to those skilled in the art from this disclosure that there exists a need for an improved conveying device capable of speeding up the discharge process in a combination weighing device and a rank-order sorting process in a quality inspection device, by changing the order of containers while they are being conveyed. This invention addresses this need in the art as well as other needs, which will become apparent to those skilled in the art from this disclosure.